A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II

Description

In what is sure to become the standard account, Rothbard traces inflations, banking panics, and money meltdowns from the Colonial Period through the mid-20th century to show how government's systematic war on sound money is the hidden force behind nearly all major economic calamities in American history. Never has the story of money and banking been told with such rhetorical power and theoretical vigor. You will treasure this volume. From the introduction by Joseph Salerno: "Rothbard employs the Misesian approach to economic history consistently and dazzlingly throughout the volume to unravel the causes and consequences of events and institutions ranging over the course of U.S. monetary history, from the colonial times through the New Deal era. One of the important benefits of Rothbard's unique approach is that it naturally leads to an account of the development of the U.S. monetary system in terms of a compelling narrative linking human motives and plans that often-times are hidden, and devious, leading to outcomes that sometimes are tragic. And one will learn much more about monetary history from reading this exciting story than from poring over reams of statistical analysis. Although its five parts were written separately, this volume presents a relative integrated narrative, with very little overlap, that sweeps across three hundreds years of U.S. monetary history." INTRODUCTION......Page 7 Part 1 A HISTORY OF MONEY AND BANKING IN THE UNITED STATES BEFORE THE TWENTIETH CENTURY......Page 47 SHILLING AND DOLLAR MANIPULATIONS......Page 49 GOVERNMENT PAPER MONEY......Page 51 PRIVATE BANK NOTES......Page 56 REVOLUTIONARY WAR FINANCE......Page 59 THE BANK OF NORTH AMERICA......Page 62 THE UNITED STATES: BIMETALLIC COINAGE......Page 65 THE FIRST BANK OF THE UNITED STATES: 1791–1811......Page 68 THE WAR OF 1812 AND ITS AFTERMATH......Page 72 THE SECOND BANK OF THE UNITED STATES, 1816-1833......Page 82 THE JACKSONIAN MOVEMENT AND THE BANK WAR......Page 90 THE JACKSONIANS AND THE COINAGE LEGISLATION OF 1834......Page 104 DECENTRALIZED BANKING FROM THE 1830S TO THE CIVIL WAR......Page 111 A FREE-MARKET “CENTRAL BANK”......Page 114 A FALSE START......Page 115 OPERATION BEGINS......Page 116 THE COUNTRY BANKS RESIST......Page 117 SUFFOLK’S STABILIZING EFFECTS......Page 118 THE SUFFOLK DIFFERENCE......Page 120 THE SUFFOLK’S DEMISE......Page 121 THE CIVILWAR......Page 122 GREENBACKS......Page 123 THE PUBLIC DEBT AND THE NATIONAL BANKING SYSTEM......Page 132 THE POST–CIVIL WAR ERA: 1865–1879......Page 147 THE GOLD STANDARD ERA WITH THE NATIONAL BANKING SYSTEM, 1879-1913......Page 159 PRICES, WAGES, AND REALWAGES......Page 161 INTEREST RATES......Page 163 A BURST IN PRODUCTIVITY......Page 164 CAPITAL FORMATION......Page 165 1896: THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE AMERICAN PARTY SYSTEM......Page 169 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT......Page 183 UNHAPPINESS WITH THE NATIONAL BANKING SYSTEM......Page 185 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE “REFORM” MOVEMENT: THE INDIANAPOLIS MONETARY CONVENTION......Page 188 THE GOLD STANDARD ACT OF 1900 AND AFTER......Page 202 CHARLES A. CONANT, SURPLUS CAPITAL, AND ECONOMIC IMPERIALISM......Page 208 CONANT, MONETARY IMPERIALISM, AND THE GOLD-EXCHANGE STANDARD......Page 218 JACOB SCHIFF IGNITES THE DRIVE FOR A CENTRAL BANK......Page 234 THE PANIC OF 1907 AND MOBILIZATION FOR A CENTRAL BANK......Page 240 THE FINAL PHASE: COPING WITH THE DEMOCRATIC ASCENDANCY......Page 254 CONCLUSION......Page 258 Part 3 FROM HOOVER TO ROOSEVELT: THE FEDERAL RESERVE AND THE FINANCIAL ELITES......Page 263 THE EARLY FED, 1914–1928: THE MORGAN YEARS......Page 264 THE HOOVER FED: HARRISON AND YOUNG......Page 271 THE ADVENT OF EUGENE MEYER, JR.......Page 278 MEYER IN THE HOOVER ADMINISTRATION......Page 286 THE NEW DEAL: GOING OFF GOLD......Page 297 BANKING AND FINANCIAL LEGISLATION: 1933-1935......Page 308 MARRINER S. ECCLES AND THE BANKING ACT OF 1935......Page 331 EPILOGUE: RETURN OF THE MORGANS......Page 343 Part 4 THE GOLD-EXCHANGE STANDARD IN THE INTERWAR YEARS......Page 351 THE CLASSICAL GOLD STANDARD......Page 352 BRITAIN FACES THE POSTWAR WORLD......Page 356 RETURN TO GOLD AT $4.86: THE CUNLIFFE COMMITTEE AND AFTER......Page 359 AMERICAN SUPPORT FOR THE RETURN TO GOLD AT $4.86: THE MORGAN CONNECTION......Page 368 BULLION, NOT COIN......Page 381 THE GOLD-EXCHANGE STANDARD, NOT GOLD......Page 384 THE GOLD-EXCHANGE STANDARD IN OPERATION: 1926-1929......Page 400 DEPRESSION AND THE END OF THE GOLD-STERLING-EXCHANGE STANDARD: 1929-1931......Page 424 EPILOGUE......Page 431 THE BACKGROUND OF THE 1920S......Page 437 THE FIRST NEW DEAL: DOLLAR NATIONALISM......Page 450 THE SECOND NEW DEAL: THE DOLLAR TRIUMPHANT......Page 476 EPILOGUE......Page 486 Index......Page 491